diff --git a/tools/modly-cli/agent.py b/tools/modly-cli/agent.py
index e424aa25..c7f37248 100644
--- a/tools/modly-cli/agent.py
+++ b/tools/modly-cli/agent.py
@@ -86,16 +86,25 @@ def _request_json(
 
 
 def _download(url: str, dest: Path, *, timeout: float) -> int:
-    dest.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    temporary_path: Path | None = None
     try:
-        with urllib.request.urlopen(url, timeout=timeout) as resp, dest.open("wb") as fh:
+        dest.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        # Keep the previous export intact until the download has finished.
+        # A sibling temporary file allows replacement on the same filesystem.
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(url, timeout=timeout) as resp, tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(
+            dir=dest.parent, prefix=".modly-download-", suffix=".tmp", delete=False
+        ) as fh:
+            temporary_path = Path(fh.name)
             total = 0
             while True:
                 chunk = resp.read(1024 * 1024)
                 if not chunk:
-                    return total
+                    break
                 fh.write(chunk)
                 total += len(chunk)
+        # Close the temporary file before replacing it, including on Windows.
+        os.replace(temporary_path, dest)
+        return total
     except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc:
         detail = exc.read().decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
         raise ModlyCliError(f"HTTP {exc.code} while downloading {url}: {detail}", code=f"HTTP_{exc.code}", http_status=exc.code) from exc
@@ -103,6 +112,9 @@ def _download(url: str, dest: Path, *, timeout: float) -> int:
         raise ModlyCliError(f"Cannot download {url}: {exc.reason}", code="DOWNLOAD_FAILED") from exc
     except OSError as exc:
         raise ModlyCliError(f"Cannot write to {dest}: {exc}", code="WRITE_FAILED") from exc
+    finally:
+        if temporary_path is not None:
+            temporary_path.unlink(missing_ok=True)
 
 
 def _multipart_form(fields: dict[str, str], file_field: str, file_path: Path) -> tuple[bytes, str]:
diff --git a/tools/modly-cli/test_agent.py b/tools/modly-cli/test_agent.py
index 9537ec1a..5598d3a0 100644
--- a/tools/modly-cli/test_agent.py
+++ b/tools/modly-cli/test_agent.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 from contextlib import redirect_stdout
 from pathlib import Path
 from types import SimpleNamespace
-from unittest.mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 MODULE_PATH = Path(__file__).with_name("agent.py")
 SPEC = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location("modly_agent", MODULE_PATH)
@@ -28,6 +28,67 @@ def test_compact_json_is_one_line(self) -> None:
         self.assertEqual(buf.getvalue(), '{"nested":{"x":1},"ok":true}\n')
 
 
+class DownloadTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_success_replaces_destination_only_after_download(self) -> None:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as td:
+            dest = Path(td) / "mesh.glb"
+            dest.write_bytes(b"original")
+            chunks = iter([b"new ", b"mesh", b""])
+
+            def read(_size: int) -> bytes:
+                self.assertEqual(dest.read_bytes(), b"original")
+                return next(chunks)
+
+            response = MagicMock()
+            response.__enter__.return_value.read.side_effect = read
+            with patch.object(agent.urllib.request, "urlopen", return_value=response):
+                self.assertEqual(agent._download("http://example.test/mesh", dest, timeout=1), 8)
+            self.assertEqual(dest.read_bytes(), b"new mesh")
+            self.assertEqual(list(Path(td).iterdir()), [dest])
+
+    def test_interrupted_download_preserves_destination_and_cleans_temporary_file(self) -> None:
+        for existing in (False, True):
+            for failure in (ConnectionResetError("connection lost"), KeyboardInterrupt()):
+                with self.subTest(existing=existing, failure=type(failure).__name__):
+                    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as td:
+                        dest = Path(td) / "mesh.glb"
+                        if existing:
+                            dest.write_bytes(b"original")
+                        response = MagicMock()
+                        response.__enter__.return_value.read.side_effect = [b"partial", failure]
+                        expected = KeyboardInterrupt if isinstance(failure, KeyboardInterrupt) else agent.ModlyCliError
+                        with patch.object(agent.urllib.request, "urlopen", return_value=response):
+                            with self.assertRaises(expected):
+                                agent._download("http://example.test/mesh", dest, timeout=1)
+                        if existing:
+                            self.assertEqual(dest.read_bytes(), b"original")
+                        else:
+                            self.assertFalse(dest.exists())
+                        self.assertEqual(list(Path(td).iterdir()), [dest] if existing else [])
+
+    def test_replace_failure_preserves_destination_and_cleans_temporary_file(self) -> None:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as td:
+            dest = Path(td) / "mesh.glb"
+            dest.write_bytes(b"original")
+            with (
+                patch.object(agent.urllib.request, "urlopen", return_value=io.BytesIO(b"new mesh")),
+                patch.object(agent.os, "replace", side_effect=PermissionError("destination locked")),
+            ):
+                with self.assertRaises(agent.ModlyCliError) as ctx:
+                    agent._download("http://example.test/mesh", dest, timeout=1)
+            self.assertEqual(ctx.exception.code, "WRITE_FAILED")
+            self.assertEqual(dest.read_bytes(), b"original")
+            self.assertEqual(list(Path(td).iterdir()), [dest])
+
+    def test_success_creates_destination_in_new_directory(self) -> None:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as td:
+            dest = Path(td) / "exports" / "mesh.glb"
+            with patch.object(agent.urllib.request, "urlopen", return_value=io.BytesIO(b"new mesh")):
+                self.assertEqual(agent._download("http://example.test/mesh", dest, timeout=1), 8)
+            self.assertEqual(dest.read_bytes(), b"new mesh")
+            self.assertEqual(list(dest.parent.iterdir()), [dest])
+
+
 class CommandTests(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_status_combines_health_and_model(self) -> None:
         calls: list[tuple[str, str]] = []